Damascus

Damascus, known in Arabic as Dimashq, is the capital city of Syria. Founded as early as 9000 BC, it is believed by some to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. In 2009 it had a population of 1,711,000 people, and it is the center of the Syrian government and its ministries.

History
The earliest settlement of the Barada basin existed since around 9000 BC, and it is believed by some that Damascus is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. Although no large-scale settlement was established until around 1400 BC, Damascus is still a major historic city that was once a seat of Islamic power. Damascus changed hands often, with the kingdom of Aram-Damascus once existing with Damascus as its capital. Later, Damascus fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, and when Antioch was made the capital of the Seleucid Empire, the importance of Damascus decreased. However, under the Roman Empire it increased in size and was made a colonia in 222 by Septimius Severus. The city became an important caravan city on the Silk Road, and Damascus' fall to the Arabs in 634 was a blow to the Byzantines, whose major city fell to the Muslims.

Under the Muslim Arab Rashidun Caliphate, Damascus was a major city for merchants and Islamic learning. In 661, when the Rashiduns were overthrown and replaced by the Umayyad Caliphate, Damascus was chosen as the new Islamic capital. It was the seat of Islamic power until 750, when the Umayyads were bloodily overthrown by the Abbasid Caliphate. It remained a major city under the several Muslim dynasties that came to rule it, and while Jerusalem was under Christian control, Damascus became the main base for the Saracens during the Crusades.

Damascus was safe from the crusaders, but it changed hands between Muslim rulers several times. At the time of the First Crusade in 1096, it was a part of the Seljuk Empire. However, during the Second Crusade in 1148 it was an independent sultanate. In 1154 it was conquered by the Zengids, but in 1174, after the death of Zengi, it was conquered by Saladin, a Kurdish-Egyptian warrior who led the Ayyubid Caliphate. In 1261 it was taken over by the Mamelukes, who rebelled and overthrew the Ayyubids, but in 1400 it briefly fell to the Timurids before the Mamelukes retook it. In 1517 the Mamelukes were destroyed and replaced by the Ottoman Empire, which would rule Damascus until its fall to the forces of Lawrence of Arabia during World War I in 1918, upon which it became a part of the Arab Kingdom of Syria. In 1920 it was conquered by France.

French Syria was centered at Damascus until its fall to France's Free French units in World War II, when it was occupied by Allied troops. After the war, Syria became independent as a republic, and Damascus was the capital of the various regimes that ruled over the country from 1946 onwards. During the Syrian Civil War of 2011, the city became the site of several suicide bombings, battles, and attacks between the Syrian Arab Army and the Islamist rebels, making the city a warzone. One bombing killed several top generals and politicians in 2012.